KARACHI: At least three people lost their lives when a passenger train collided with a freight train at Makli Shah, near Hyderabad.
Station Superintendent Muhammad Rizwan said the Jinnah Express passenger train going from Karachi to Lahore collided with the stationary freight train near Latifabad area of Hyderabad.
“A driver, an assistant driver and a guard lost their lives in the incident outside Hyderabad at a signal crossing,” said Federal Railways Minister Shiekh Rashid Ahmed, adding that “all passengers remained safe”.
He said the matter was being investigated and a brief report on the matter would be released soon.
Visuals from the scene showed the passenger train’s engine and at least one bogey severely damaged from the accident. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital for immediate treatment.
Station Superintendent Mohammad Rizwan said that the Jinnah Express crashed into the freight train possibly because the train driver wasn’t able to get the signal.
A team of Sindh Rangers has reached at the site of the incident to assist the rescue operations.
MS Civil Hospital Dr Mubeen said that two bodies were brought to the hospital while one critically injured passenger is under treatment. “As many as seven ambulances were sent to the site of the incident.”
Neither the deceased nor the injured could yet be identified, he added.
Accident was a human error: CEO Railways
CEO Pakistan Railways Aftab Akbar told media that the collision was due to negligence by the driver and assistant driver. “There were two unauthorized people present with the driver and assistant driver. It appears that while they were socializing, the driver missed the signal and wasn’t able to pull the emergency brake.”
Our initial investigation suggests that the driver put a late break. The final report on the incident will be released tomorrow, he added.
